


Twilight's Wilderness

by SorceressEpele



Series: Team Wild stories [3]
Category: Sleepless Domain (Webcomic)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:08:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 20,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27545881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SorceressEpele/pseuds/SorceressEpele
Series: Team Wild stories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2146281
Kudos: 13





	1. Registration

Registration. A word that simultaneously excites and terrifies a magical girl. For a young Lucy Brown, these feelings are all too true.

Twilight Stars, a one-stop resource for magical girls. For some, they visit to see a manager. Others may visit for support. For Lucy, her visit today was to see a registration official. _Maybe I might see someone I know? Why do the doors look so tall? Is this going to be long? What will they talk about?_ So many thoughts crossed her mind, the building seemed far more intimidating that it really was.

“And here we are.”  
The relaxed tone of her father's voice was just what Lucy needed, a comfort in the wilderness of the unknown.  
“I know you're scared.” Her father's tone started to slip. “I don't know what to expect either, sweetie, but I'm here for you.”  
Lucy looked up towards her father and smiled. “Thank you, Dad.”

  
The reception of Twilight Stars was a strong contrast to anywhere else they had seen before. The floor was polished stone to an incredible shine, Lucy could see her face reflecting off the floor. The walls, lined with wooden panelling were also polished to a shine. The reception desk ahead was well kept, with a stocked fruit bowl and flanked by two healthy plants at either side.

 _Wow. This is unreal._ Lucy's worries were blasted away by this first impression. _Is this how they treat all magical girls?_ The amazement never stopped. _They have strawberries!_  
“Hello and welcome to Twilight Stars, what may we do for you today?” chirped a jolly receptionist.  
Lucy could not find her voice, still amazed by this different world she had just walked into.  
“We're here to register my daughter. She received the dream five days ago.”  
The receptionist was stunned at first, how could this tall girl be a new magical girl? Then again, her father was a towering, two meter tall, figure.  
“If you'll follow me to the waiting area, we can do that for you.” As she goes to turn, she spots Lucy staring at the fruit bowl. “Help yourself to a piece of fruit if you'd like some. It's all real.”  
“Thank you.” Lucy replied, taking a strawberry from the bowl.

  
“Here we are. If you'd just like to wait here, someone will be with you shortly.” The receptionist gestured towards a seating area. Individual seats, all sporting royal blue fabric and silver polished metal frames. The floor of the seating area sported a blue carpet as to signal the area is separate from the hallway. A tall plant stretched from the corner of the waiting area, lightly brushing the ceiling. The wall here was adorned with large pictures of various magical girls. Lucy didn't recognise most of them, however one stood out with three girls. One in grey, two in different shades of orange.

 _Are they.._ Lucy's thoughts wouldn't last long.  
“Hello there,” a voice interrupted, “I am Jacob Ignave. I understand you are here for registration?”  
Lucy turned her attention away from the pictures on the wall and towards Jacob before nodding.  
“Please, follow to my office. It's not far.”  
Jacob's office wasn't far at all. Second door on the right. Upon entering the door, it was quite a large office, yet very simplistic. A long wooden desk sat deep into the room, leaving a large expanse between it and the door. The back wall was lined with shelving, with various boxes all neatly labelled filling them entirely. Various filing cabinets lined the side walls behind the desk. Nothing sat in front of the desk with the exception of three chairs.

 _It's so empty in here._ The space had caught Lucy's attention. _Why have such a big office and so little inside?_  
“If you'd like to take a seat, we can begin.”  
Jacob was now behind his desk, gesturing towards the seats in front. A fresh registration packet lay in the middle of his desk. Lucy and her father took seats in front of the desk.

Much to Lucy's relief, the next six minutes were basic questions. Name, address, etcetera. The first question about her new magical girl status was her symbol. She showed the symbol on her shoulder, a brown bear head roaring. Jacob spent a couple of minutes sketching the symbol down on the registration document.   
“For the next part of the process, we will need to see your transformed state. If you could stand in the middle of the space behind you and transform please.” Jacob's tone was cheery. Getting to see a girl's transformation was the best part of the job for him.  
“Why the middle?” Lucy questioned as she left her seat.  
Jacob was a little surprised someone was asking at first. He paused for a moment before replying “Some girls transform with more energy than others. The space is provided to avoid any accidental damage of property.”

 _That makes sense._ Lucy thought. She reached the middle of the room, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her transformation begun. A wave of energy flowed up from her head down, replacing her civilian clothing with brown fur layers. The fur looking rough, like it had been collected from a real bear. Once the energy flow had reached her feet and vanished, her eyes opened. Within a moment, a brown spectral bear surrounded her and let out a roar. She was transformed in full now.

**Crash.**

The chair behind the desk had toppled over. Jacob was now laying on the floor. The appearance and roar of Lucy's spirit bear was too much for the poor man to bear.  
“Are you okay there sir?” Lucy's father asked in shock. He didn't expect the man to topple his chair over while sitting in it.  
The door of the office opened suddenly. “I heard a crash, is everything alright in here?” A lady in a suit from the next office had heard the crash. “Where's Jacob?”  
_Oops_. One word was all Lucy could thing. _Oops_. She didn't mean to terrify the poor man.

A clearly terrified man rose up behind the desk. Once tidy combed hair now sat untamed and shaken. A tidy suit and tie, now sat awkwardly and uneven.  
“I need a coffee.. or three. Mind filling in for me, Jessica?” stumbled his voice.   
Jessica sighed “Go get a coffee. I'll deal with this wild one for you.”  
The two suited figures passed each other with a smile.

“The poor man. He always gets the girls who have powers that terrify him.”  
Jessica's attention turned towards the registration pack. A powerful smile formed across her face as she looked upon the section labelled Sigil. “Well I never.”

“Jessica Adams. I expect you'll see more of me in the future Miss Brown.” She turned her attention towards Lucy. “One look at you and your symbol tells me that you're thematic with Team Wild. Do you happen to know a Annie Gray, Nina Kaplan or Elin Räv?”

 _Annie._ The name stood out in an instant. “I know Annie!” Lucy blurted out excitedly. “She's going to be so surprised!”

  
A few days passed. Lucy hadn't told Annie yet, and had just transferred to Future's Promise.  
No sighting of her friend at school, but she had found out where Team Wild meet up each night. A café two miles west of her home. She had her destination for this evening.

Half past nine. The streets were mostly clear of people. A few people returning home in the last minutes before the inner barrier rises to seal the city. Lucy peeked the last corner leading to the cafe. A couple of girls there already. One with long crimson hair and a second one with long light orange hair ending in white tips.

Nine forty. One more girl arrives, short dark orange hair with black highlights. _No sign of Annie yet._

Nine forty-five. An older girl with grey hair arrives. “Sorry, train was running late.”  
“It's okay, we're all here now” replied the crimson one.  
_It's time_. Lucy turned the corner and walked up. “H..Hey!”  
The others were all surprised. Annie even more so than the rest. “Lucy! You never told me!”  
“Surprise!” Lucy cheered. “Got room for a bear?”  
Annie hugged Lucy. “We got room for a teddy bear.”

“Annie, who's this?” asked the crimson girl.  
“Oh right. This is Lucy Brown, a friend of mine.” was Annie's answer.  
The light orange haired girl stepped forward and waved. “Hi, I'm Elin.. or Wild Fox.”  
The dark orange girl waved next, “I'm Nina, Wild Tiger”  
The crimson girl smiled nervously “I'm Amy.. I'm not actually thematic with the rest, but my spirit dragon makes me Wild Dragon.”

“Nice to meet you all.” Lucy smiled as she met her teammates. _This is going to be so cool_ she thought to herself.


	2. Wilderness

Nine fifty-eight. The inner barrier's rise lay imminent. Witnessing it from the outside, rather than from the safety of the inside, would prove a different experience for Lucy.

“So that's the rough plan for tonight.” Annie had just finished her brief to her team for tonight. The original plan wasn't going to work any more as they just gained an extra member.

Beep Beep Beep. An alarm clock sounded from Annie's pocket, starling Lucy at first.  
“Two minutes to go. Time to get ready.” Annie's words had barely finished before her symbol began to glow in a grey light. Glows of orange and red followed as the others transformed. Lucy was the last, her brown glow was pretty much a solo show by this point.

 _Oh, wow_. Lucy was amazed to see the other members' costumes. Furskin outfits matching the fur of a fox and tiger respectively for Elin and Nina, Annie's one was no surprise. She'd shown the wolf fur outfit to Lucy in the past. Amy's outfit was different to the rest. A long red dress with open sides and a large golden dragon embroidery spanning the length of the dress. Underneath was a black bodysuit with a scaled pattern. _That looks like it's a tough armour_ noted Lucy. With a click of her fingers, Amy materialised a spirit dragon. The dragon resembles one seen at lunar year festivals, except spectral and mono-coloured in red.

Amy noticed Lucy's amazement at everything. “Well, what do you think?” she asked. She got an excited reply of “It's so cool!”  
“Not everyone is used to seeing my dragon. Some girls even think it's a monster at first.”  
_But it's sooo cute_. Lucy couldn't see how people would see it as a monster. The dragon was nothing but cute in her mind.

  
“The time is now ten p.m.” announced through the streets. The usual nightly announcement. The barrier's rise was coming. A brown light flooded through the streets, coating the floors and walls. Windows turned green. The light textured up into logs as it rose up the walls. Rooftops took on a green and leafy texture instead of the brown down on the streets below.

Nina looked around, observing the barrier. “Huh, didn't we have this pattern a few days ago?”  
“I think we did?” Elin replied.  
The barrier stuck in Lucy's mind, she was amazed. “I remember this one.”  
The others turned to Lucy, curious. Annie smiled, as she suspected she knew what was about to be said.  
“This was the barrier the night I got the dream.”

The conversation was cut short by a metallic hiss.   
“Look out!” Elin yelled while leaping back at high speed.  
Nina swiped at a pouncing monster as her spirit tiger materialised in time to slash it to pieces. “Cobraxes!”  
Lucy however was not ready for this early arrival ambush and one of them struck her across the face. She turned to see this pinkish monster resembling a cobra snake, except with sharp axe blades across it's upper body. A second one crashed into her back as her spirit bear appeared around her. Annie quickly pounced on the second one, dispatching it instantly. Amy dodged one by ducking as it pounced, leaving it to jump into the maws of her dragon which promptly devoured the monster before belching out a plume of flames.

“That's earlier than usual.” Annie's voice was concerned. She turned to Lucy and was horrified. Lucy's face now had a large wound across her left cheek, going all the way along and across her nose. “That's not good.”  
The Cobraxe that had pounced Lucy reared up and took another pounce at her. This time, Lucy was ready and slashed it with her claw and spirit bear's claw before it could land a second hit. Elin and Nina formed a tag team for the next arrivals. Elin bamboozled the Cobraxes and lured them into doing bad pounces with fast movements while Nina slashed them with her spirit tiger's claws. Amy kept a watch on the other side, her dragon scouting about.

“Not going to lie here, that's a pretty nasty wound there, Lucy.” Annie was pretty mortified. Her friend joins for her first night out, and this happens? She could not shake it. She felt responsible. “We're going to have to find you a healer before you go home tonight.”  
Lucy wished she could see a mirror to see how bad it was. _At least we're not stopping to go to a safety center_ was her only comfort that it couldn't be too bad.

  
The next two hours passed without further incidents. Plenty of spiders and other small monsters, nothing big had shown up yet.

Annie looked at Lucy, and her face turned to surprise. “That's odd.”  
“Huh?” Everyone had the same reaction.  
“Looks like our little bear has healed up all on her own.” Annie's voice was playful with relief.  
The rest turned to Lucy. The large wound from earlier had not only healed itself closed, but completely disappeared. While used to the fact most magical girls heal quickly, they were surprised at how fast Lucy had healed.  
“Huh? Is this not normal?” Lucy asked.  
Amy crossed her arms. “Most magical girls heal faster, but you? I think you may have just set a new record for the fasted healing magical girl in history.”  
“I thought my novels were unrealistic.” Nina stated, “But after seeing you, I've changed my mind. That's so cool!”  
“We gotta-” Annie started to say.  
“WAIT!” Elin yelled. “Something's coming!”

Despite being the second youngest, her instincts were correct. Her sense had picked up a large multi-armed monster coming. A hulking beast turned the corner before looking at them.  
A four and a half meter tall Gorilla with six arms and a spiked back. The large size of the monster gave it an advantage. It quickly threw itself over the team, and took a large pair of punches. The first one missed as the girls dodged. However, the impact caused Elin to stumble and fall. Lucy found her footing quickly and put her hands out to grab the incoming fist. Her spirit bear grew larger, helping hold the incoming fist.

Amy ran away, putting distance and sent her dragon to breath fire into the monster's face. This provided a distraction that stopped it momentarily. Elin used this moment to run behind the monster and strike at its legs. Annie and Nina both pounced at its arms. For the moment, it appeared they had the upper hand. Several strikes later, the monster shrieked and flailed about. This threw Annie and Nina to the ground and forced Elin to back away. With no other targets nearby, it focused onto Lucy and aimed all six arms at once at it.

 **Blam**.

The shockwave of the impact of six arms hitting at once was deafening. When the dust cleared, Lucy was curled into a ball with her spirit bear curling around her at twice its usual size. The others looked on in shock.

“I'm ok!” Lucy yelled. Her face smiling as she now knew her bear was intended to be her protective guardian. She turned to the monster, and lay her claw into its belly. This was too much for the monster as it ripped in two and began to dissolve.

“How did you-?” Annie was too confused to finish her question.  
Lucy smiled.  
“It came to me instinctively. Kinda like the bear told me?”

“That was one tough monster, and you just took its strongest attack without even a scratch.” Nina was amazed and impressed.  
“We gotta get a new team photo tomorrow!” cried out Elin in excitement.  
Annie smiled. “We gotta get through tonight first, let's go!”

  
The rest of the night sailed past smoothly. The time rolled up to two a.m. and the barrier faded.  
“Whew, that was exhausting” exclaimed an exhausted Lucy.  
“You did good for your first night.” Annie's words of encouragement were just what Lucy needed at this point.  
“See you all tomorrow!” waved off Nina as she left to set off home. Elin and Amy both waved afterwards and also set off in different directions to head home.

“I'll walk you home.” promised Annie.

The streets were quiet and relaxing under the moonlight. The wilds of the night had just disappeared as quickly as they had begun.  
“You mentioned you transferred to Future's Promise, right?” questioned Annie.  
“Yeah, today was my first day. I was hoping I might have been able to surprise you, but I couldn't find you.” replied Lucy.  
Annie smiled. “Well, I grab lunch with the others. We sit at the table two away from the window, and three back from the tray return. Maybe you can join us tomorrow?”  
“That'd be nice..” replied a sleepy Lucy.

“Let's just get you home first.”


	3. Management

Twilight Stars. It'd only been about a week since Lucy had come here for the first time, but here she was again. This time, she had some different company around her.

Nina and Elin were already here. They greeted Lucy with a wave.  
“You made it!” Nina smiled before continuing. “Annie's not here yet.”  
“Last to arrive, as usual.” Elin pouted.  
“But what about-” Lucy was about to ask before being hushed by Nina. “If you mean our dragon friend.. well.. We don't talk about her here.”  
_That sounds really odd_. Lucy was confused by this, but decided not to ask any further.

  
Twenty minutes passed, there was no sign of Annie.  
“Ugh, she's super late this time” sighed Elin.  
Lucy looked down the streets, still no immediate sign of Annie. “She's not usually this late though.”  
The usual chatter on the street was interrupted by the screams of people.  
“Ten says that's Annie.” Nina's tone was confident. “There's always people scared by our spirit animals.”  
A minute later, the sound of two feet landing behind them led the girls to turn around.  
“So sorry! The train had a breakdown, just had to run here” panted Annie.

The girls waited for Annie to catch her breath. Despite having run while transformed, she had obviously been exerting and pushing herself to try and arrive on time.  
“You really should hit the gym more often.” Elin mocked. “Or spend more time on the track.”  
“I didn't expect to have to run the entire way here.. but I think you're right” conceded Annie.  
“Well, we're all here” stated Nina while Lucy still seemed confused about being a member short. This look did not go unnoticed by Annie.  
“Oh yeah, Lucy. We don't mention Amy here. If Jessica asks you, just call her Wild Dragon.” Annie's tone was serious.  
“Is it for something personal?” queried Lucy.  
“Pretty much” replied Annie.

  
Alongside friends, the doors to Twilight Stars didn't seem as imposing as the first time Lucy visited. She noticed how they were only about half a meter taller than she was. The polished interior was now a familiar sight as memories came back. Lucy broke out into a giggle as she remembered her registration.  
“Hey, what's so funny?” questioned Elin.  
“Oh, I just remembered my registration here.” Lucy's reply was shaky with the giggles.  
“I think we all know what happened” Nina smirked “Jacob did your registration?”  
“Yeah, he fell off his chair.” Lucy managed to say before bursting into laughter.  
Annie smiled. “I'm surprised the poor man hasn't quit yet. We all scared the life out of him it seems.”

Annie waved to the receptionist who nodded and signalled for the team to head down the hallway.  
_Huh? No need to say we're here?_ Lucy thought to herself. The waiting room was the same as before. Annie stopped in front of the team's poster. “This has got to go. It's so last week now.”  
She turned to Lucy. “That's part of why we're here anyway. We've got to change the details of a few things now, and that's so much better.”  
Elin had just sat down but bounced out of her seat. “We got a cool new friend with an awesome animal power!”  
Lucy turned to Nina, but saw she had already picked up a book and was locked-on to the pages to read it. 

A few minutes passed before the arrival of Jessica signalled it was time for the meeting to begin. Annie had to place her hand on the book to get Nina's attention. “Yo, it's time.”  
Jessica's office neighboured Jacob's office. Unlike Jacob's large and empty office, Jessica had a lot more furnishing. Multiple soft chairs surrounding a large round desk. Framed posters of several magical girls, solo and teams, lined the walls of the office. Lucy looked at the various posters, seeing how many she might recognise. Annie looked at one hung by the door. “I see you still have Team Metal's poster, even though they retired two months ago.”  
Jessica sighed. “I already miss them. They proved themselves the most successful team I've ever had the torture of managing.”  
_Torture?_ Lucy was surprised to hear that word be used to describe managing a team.   
“When it's time to take that poster down, I'll take it home as a reminder.” Jessica's tone shifted more serious. “But enough about them, and onto you lot. Please, take seats.”

Lucy sat down first, Annie held the seat that Elin practically threw herself into to ensure it wouldn't fall over. The others took their seats in a more sensible manner.  
“First off, I see you have welcomed Lucy into your team. Am I correct in assuming that her title is to be Wild Bear, based off what I saw of her registration?”  
Lucy was too nervous to answer, she turned towards Annie. Annie smiled and nodded. “Yes, she's our cute little bear.”  
Being called a cute little bear was a little bit embarrassing, but Lucy smiled at it knowing that Annie meant no harm by it.

“Our second point is your other friend. We've all seen her with you on cameras and everything. Are you please going to tell me more about her?” Jessica seemed to be frustrated. Everyone looked at each other and stayed quiet.  
Annie broke the silence “You know the deal. She'll come when she's ready, not before. We've told you before.”  
“Then could you explain why the C.D.D. has an entry for a girl called Wild Dragon, but why they won't tell me any further details?” came back the frustrated reply.  
Annie was surprised by this, as was everyone else. This was news to them.  
_Why didn't she tell me this?_ thought Annie. “She'll come along when she's ready. She's got a reason, as has the C.D.D. for why you don't know anything.”  
The repetitive answer was met by silence. Jessica knew that she wasn't going to get anything out of Annie. She turned to Lucy.  
“Miss Brown, what do you know about this Wild Dragon girl?” came a quick, serious sounding question with a snap.  
“I don't know much. I kinda just assumed she was hanging out with the others? Sorry.” Lucy's tone sounded convincing. She honestly didn't know much, and was confused by the new information.

The attempt to get new information by drawing upon the team's latest addition had drawn a blank for Jessica, who promptly decided to drop the subject. The next half hour was spent discussing the details of an upcoming photoshoot and a merchandise opportunity. The girls were worried that the merchandise offer would be a disadvantage to Lucy having just joined, but were quickly reassured that the offer would include her.

  
Half an hour later, the meeting was over and everyone was leaving the Twilight Stars building. The fresh air was a refreshing change from the tense air of the management office. Annie turned to Lucy.  
“Hey, Nice work on deflecting that snap question. I was half expecting you to blurt out something.” praised Annie.  
“I couldn't even remember her name at that moment. The question was a surprise!” Lucy admitted.  
“Then that was one lucky surprise!” added Nina. “I'll see you all later tonight!”

 _I hope she tells you soon_. Annie thought to herself.


	4. Secrets

Lunchtime. For most of Team Wild, four weeks ago they had seen their manager. Amy had skipped and evaded the meeting, as per usual. The fact that she hadn't been there still weighed in on the mind of Lucy.

Today's lunch choice for Lucy was a steak as her main meal, and a fruit salad for a dessert. There were a few odd looks at her unusual combination.   
“You must be the only girl in the entire school who picks a steak just to pair it off with a fruit salad” sighed Nina. Lucy's unusual lunch combinations weren't anything new to her at this point, but she still couldn't get used to them.  
“But they're both so good” replied Lucy. “And I'm the one eating them, not you.”  
Annie smirked. “Well, bears do eat both fruit and meat.”  
Elin burst into laughter at the witty remark just as Amy approached with her dinner. Her choice of dinner was quickly noticed. She'd picked the exact same as Lucy.  
“So, I kinda saw Lucy picking something unusual again. Thought I'd give it a try.” Amy sounded quite calm, almost calculating in tone.  
Annie looked at Amy. _You didn't just pick it for the sake of it_ she thought to herself.

Lunch remained fairly quiet for a while. Nina finished eating first and pulled out a detective novel and begun to read it while the others carried on eating. Ten minutes passed before the quiet was broken by Elin pulling faces at Nina, unnoticed by the latter's focus on reading up until the others started to giggle.

At the end of the lunch period, Amy passed Lucy a small red envelope while the others weren't looking.  
“Read it alone.. and don't mention it to the others.” she whispered.

  
Lucy had kept the envelope inside her jacket pocket for the rest of the day until she got home. She took the envelope out. The corners had been hand-decorated with a golden ink. Lucy found her name had been written with the same golden ink. She opened it to find a small piece of paper inside.

Meet me tomorrow.   
Outside of Future's Promise Boarding House. 6:30pm.  
Please don't tell the others.  
Amy.

 _The boarding house? Does she live there?_ New thoughts crossed Lucy's mind. The night came and passed, she kept the thoughts to herself.

Six in the evening. Lucy peered out the window of the train. She wasn't used to riding the train at this time in the evening. The station approaching was a comforting sight. The boarding house wasn't far from the station, so there was plenty of time to walk. I wonder why she invited me here? she pondered as she walked.

Upon arrival at the boarding house, Amy was waiting outside the border wall. The expression on her face was fairly serious. “You came.”  
“Yeah, but why just me?” questioned Lucy.  
“We'll talk inside my place. Come on in.”  
Amy led Lucy into the boarding house and up the stairs, stopping at the fifth floor.  
“This is my place.”  
She opened the first door, closest to the stairs. Inside was a single room apartment. In the corner of the room sat a small, simple bed with red covers. The kitchen area sat highly organised and tidy, though it looked much more like a miniature professional kitchen. Three red beanbags served at seating around a small table. Outside of those, there was nothing else decorating the place. The walls were completely void of posters.

The door closed with a soft click. Amy sat down on one of the beanbags, with Lucy following afterwards.  
“I thought I should tell you the truth as to why I avoid our team's manager.” Amy's tone was serious.  
“I usually try to keep this quiet.. but I feel like I can trust you to know and not tell anyone.”  
Lucy was surprised. “So this explains why the secrecy” she replied.  
Amy nodded. “Even the C.D.D. likes to keep this quiet. I can only imagine the headache it causes when someone tries to query details about me, and they have to keep it quiet.”  
_Then could you explain why the C.D.D. has an entry for a girl called Wild Dragon._ The words from the team's manager echoed in Lucy's head.  
“Oh yeah! They only tell your title to people.” Lucy's voice had the distinctive pop of someone who just remembered something.  
Amy sighed with relief. “It'd be terrible if people actually found out my real name..” she sighed again. “Especially if they make the link to my mom.”

Silence filled the room. For a moment, it felt like time itself had put everything in stasis. Lucy shook her head.  
“Wait, What?” her voice full of surprise.  
“I was born to, probably the most infamous magical girl of all time. Known as Poison Rose.. Well, that wasn't her actual magical girl title.” Amy looked down. “It's the one the media gave her.”  
Poison Rose? Didn't I hear that name roughly in a history class once? Lucy had a look of surprise painted on her face. She couldn't find any words at first to speak.  
“I think I've heard that name before.. but I don't know anything about her” came Lucy's stunned reply, “Was she really that bad?”  
Amy was surprised. “Bad is an understatement of what she did.. Let me tell you some of it.”

  
“The magical girl known by the name of Poison Rose.. her actual name was Rose.. but her magical girl title was something like Fractured Midnight. In her early days, she was a pretty good solo...” Amy rolled back on the beanbag to lay down, a sulky expression upon her face. “The first time she attended a breach is where it all went wrong. She quickly took down the monsters with ranged shots from a bow and then entered the building. Upon finding all the occupants incapacitated by contact wounds, she decided to loot the place before others arrived.”  
“It took a few weeks before the family living there could return after having recovered. Only then did they notice several missing items. They put it down to them being destroyed by monsters at this time.”  
Lucy looked concerned. “How did they find out they were stolen later?”  
“It took about a year before they realised they were stolen. Numerous reports of items destroyed by monsters in breaches, and every single one of them was attended by Fractured Midnight.” Amy sat up “At this point, speculation was going out about was Rose Lóng the one responsible. When asked for an interview, she declined it.”

“Anyhow, after a while, some other girls caught her watching monsters which had nearly broken the inner barrier. Seems that my Mom was actually waiting for monsters to breach walls so that she had an excuse to enter and loot places.” Amy's expression turned sad.  
“That's horrible!” cried out Lucy. “How could she do such a thing?”  
“That was just the start. One family confronted her in the street and the next night, their place was breached by monsters that left fatal contact wounds. Nobody knows for sure, but they think the monsters were led there by my Mom.”

“So after that, they went to ask her questions.. but she had just vanished. She didn't attend school, and she wasn't spotted by anyone during the day.. but night comes, and the sightings came in. Always the north-west though. Wanted posters went up, but she wasn't caught until fourteen years ago.”  
Lucy was surprised. “So, how did they catch her?”  
Amy's face turned to embarrassment, “Well.. I happened. I hear they caught her when she turned up at a hospital for childbirth, where her powers disappeared.”  
“If they arrested your Mom when you were born, who raised you?” questioned Lucy.  
Amy looked unsure and nervous to the question. She shuffled in the beanbag seat before answering “I'm not sure, I think I was adopted by someone from the C.D.D. since they always expected me to get powers some day.”  
“Expected you to get powers? How would they know?” puzzled Lucy.  
“Beats me. They don't share everything they know.” replied Amy.

Amy stood up from her beanbag. “I trust you'll keep everything quiet.. right?”  
Lucy stood up “That's a lot to take in, but I won't tell.” Her words were followed up by a growling stomach.  
Amy laughed. “How about I fix you up some dinner? We can take the train together later.”


	5. Untamed

The train ride. The time. The company. All of these individually proved familiar for Lucy, but this was the first time these three had been combined in such a way.

Amy proved to be a great travelling companion. Comments on places as the train breezed past, pieces of local gossip. All of this made for a refreshing ride. Lucy wasn't aware of just how much Amy knew, and was surprised about how much knowledge she had over various locations.  
“How do you know so much about all these places?” quizzed Lucy.  
Amy smiled. “Quite simple. I visited all these places over several months of going out.”  
Lucy looked surprised, a look that didn't go unnoticed.  
“I think it was something like eight months that I went out solo, until I found the others.” Amy moved to stand up. “Our stop's almost here.”

The train pulled into the station. The pair left the train, leaving the carriage desolate. The two left the station in silence, wandering into the streets before Amy checked around them.  
“I still remember finding them the first time. They were in a sticky spot where they were having to deal with a monster that had been set on fire by another girl some point prior. They couldn't lay a paw on it without getting burnt.”  
Lucy giggled at the fact Amy had said paw. She composed herself quickly to reply “And I guess that's where your dragon came in?”  
“Indeed. My dragon disposed of the monster, saving them from further burns.” Amy pouted before continuing. “Still can't believe someone set a monster on fire, and left it for others to deal with.”

The pair passed a street where a couple of civilians were running home, keeping silent until they were clear of anyone listening. Amy checked the area once again. “After that, I waved and left. I didn't expect to see them again after that.”  
_Oh?_ Lucy's brain made words, but not her mouth.  
“Next day, I'm having lunch outside to enjoy the quiet. Next thing I know, Annie had found me. She thanked me for the help, and invited herself to join me for lunch.” Amy's head turned to look at the stars in the sky. “She was just so nice, and didn't ask any personal questions.”  
“Not even your name?” asked a puzzled Lucy.  
“Yeah, she didn't even ask that. It was quite a surprise for me. Normally, that's the first thing anyone asks me for.”

  
The familiar sight of the cafe came to view as they turned the corner. Elin was laying across one of the tables, staring at the sky. There was no sign of the others yet. As their footsteps came closer, the vixen sprung to life, bouncing off the table.  
“Yoooo! You're here!” Elin's energetic greeting came fast. “And it's the pair of you? Did you two go on a secret date?”  
A mischievous smile was now beaming at the pair of them.   
“You know I'd never tell you.” Amy's reply was blunter than a wall. Elin turned towards Lucy with the smile. Lucy followed up with a blunt reply of “Nor will I.”  
“Totally a date.. or maybe not.” Elin looked at the two of them, unable to get a read on either ones face. “I can't tell! You two are mean!”

Twelve minutes passed, with Elin trying to figure out why the pair arrived together constantly before a new set of footsteps approached. Nina had arrived, noticing something was unusual.  
“So, what did I miss this time?” she quizzed.  
Lucy burst out laughing, Amy tried to not laugh, but also burst out laughing. Elin pouted “Those two arrived together, but won't tell me if it was a date or not!”  
Nina sighed “Just because they arrived together, it doesn't mean they were on a date.”  
“That totally happens in your romance books though!” Elin barked back.  
The pair of them spent the next couple of minutes bouncing points about romance novels against each other, like a tennis match with words.

The match was suspended by the arrival of Annie. Nina checked her watch in surprise.  
“Congrats cap, this is the earliest you've ever arrived.” she teased while putting her watch on show. Nine forty. “Beaten your record by five minutes.”  
The others gave a quick clap as a round of applause. Annie looked embarrassed.  
“I get it, I'm usually late for everything.” She paused, having noticed the range of expressions across everyones faces. “Ok, so what did I miss this time?”  
Elin proved herself quick. “Lucy and Amy turned up at the exact same time, like they were on some sorta date.”  
Annie smiled. “I seriously doubt it was a date.”  
Elin looked disappointed and defeated at Annie's words. The others looked relieved – they'd just been granted some peace for a little while.

The next few minutes were spent discussing the plan for the night. A few tweaks to their usual patrol route highlighted the main changes to their usual strategy. The meeting was concluded by the beeping of Annie's pocket alarm clock, telling the team that the barrier was to rise in two minutes.

  
The nightly announcement played out. The barrier flooded the streets, engulfing the buildings in a shimmering black light. Shadows turned white. The windows remained in synchronicity with the floors and walls this night.

Nina observed the barrier, noting “This is going to be disorienting. Be ready for ambushes.”  
Elin was jumping in and out of the white shadows, like a fox jumping through piles of snow. She jumped out and bounced back to the others. “I dunno, this one's pretty cool.”  
Amy was clearly disoriented. _Ugh. This one's really confusing_. She was struggling to get the concept of white shadows in her head.  
Lucy had a moment of inspiration. “Oh! I get it!”  
The others turned to her. “It's like piles of snow, and a glossy black floor.”  
Her statement, inspired by Elin's bouncy nature, was a surprise for the others. They had expected Annie to come up with that, not the junior member of their team. Amy looked at it the barrier once more, and it now made more sense to her. She clicked her fingers and her dragon appeared.

  
The first waves of monsters proved easy. Simple eye monsters. Mostly in spider forms, but a few took the shape of a bat instead. A few jumped out of the shadows, causing a few scares among the team.

“Just the eye monsters tonight? This isn't too bad.” noted Nina.  
“Yeah, just because they haven't scared the life outta you.” pouted Elin. She wasn't too amused, after all. She did get a close-up view of a monster that narrowly missed her face before being punched by Lucy as it flew overhead.  
Amy looked more worried. “That's what concerns me. We've seen an awful lot of them, but no leader in sight.”   
“That's a point. Something's bound to show up sooner or later.” Annie backed her point up.

The fighting carried on up a staircase. As they climbed the stairs, a mumbling sound could be heard from above. Each step, the mumbling intensified.  
“Sounds like a big pack's up there.” noted Elin.  
Lucy climbed a few more stairs, and peered over the top step.

At the peak of the staircase lay an open park. The mumbling noise coming from the center of the park was passing down the stairs. The girls lay waste to the last few monsters on the stairs.  
“It's not a pack.” stated Lucy as she looked towards the park.  
The others climbed the remaining stairs. As the park entered their vision, they shared the same few words.  
“What. Is. That?”

  
At the heart of the park lay a roundish monster. Hundreds of arms and hands sprouted out of its body, numerous eyes, teeth, nostrils encircled the body of the monster. The numerous legs and feet let it wander in any direction it desired.  
Amy saw the monster, noting its design. “Mouthburger.”  
“What?” replied Annie.  
“Mouthburger. I heard about this thing from the C.D.D.” Amy growled. “Its arms grow back, so beware.”

The girls left the staircase to confront the oversized junk food. Elin rushed it, before backing off after finding a bunch of new arms growing out of its existing arms.  
“This thing sucks!” she yelled.  
Annie observed the monster. This was a new one for her, she had no idea how to deal with it. _Additional arms from existing arms. That's going to be a problem._  
Nina made an approach, however it was cut short by having to constantly attack the various arms that made a grab for her. Lucy made her move, much more successful than Nina's attempt. She approached the monster while swinging wildly, breaking arms off as she got closer. Eventually, she landed a scratch that burst a single eye on the abomination.

The others took example from Lucy, landing several scratches on the monster. It appeared to be going well until the monster grabbed Lucy by the hair, pulling her towards its oversized jaw. In a moment of panic, Elin jumped between the arms and took a wild swipe, and turned around after landing.

She missed her target.

The monster pulled in and swallowed. The taste of nothing but hair enraged the monster. Elin had missed its arms, but ended up cutting a large length of Lucy's hair off in the process. Lucy turned to the enraged monster and slammed her claw, and spirit bear's paw, into its mouth.  
The monster could take no more. Its arms disintegrated, it slumped to the ground in defeat. Amy directed her spirit dragon to devour the remains of the monster before walking forwards to join the others.

  
Elin looked at Lucy, horrified at what she had done. _She's gonna hate me for this_. Lucy reached and felt the back of her head, noticing how much hair had been cut off. The other stood in silence.  
Lucy turned towards Elin, “Hey, you saved me. What's a bit of hair compared to that?”  
Annie was surprised “A bit of hair? That's quite a length there.”  
Nina looked amused. “You might even pull off that tough gal look if you work out.”  
“Are you suggesting she joins a gym?” questioned Amy.  
“Just thinking out loud.” replied Nina.  
Lucy raised her arm enough to look at her claws. _The others don't need these. Maybe I should try working out._


	6. Shadows

_Why?_ The question that hung in mind. Months had passed, but there was still no answer for this question.

Annie sat down with her lunch. The table completely deserted. Her mind turned towards a question stuck in it. _Why?_ The question had been plaguing her for months now, and she still could not find an answer for it. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the sound of legs being dragged across the floor. The following sound was a loud whump, leading to Annie looking up.

Elin. She'd dropped her dinner tray onto the table. Nina was approaching a little bit behind. Unlike the little rascal, Nina placed her tray down quietly and lifted her chair out without dragging the legs.  
“Ever the noisy one. Can't you at least put your dinner down quietly?” Nina commented. “I think half the city just heard you put that tray down.”  
Elin stuck her tongue out. She couldn't talk at that moment for she had already stuffed her mouth full of ice cream.  
“And you start on your dessert before the main meal.. again.” Nina sighed.  
Annie simply smiled at the two of them.

 _Those two. The first two to join me. Nina first, three years ago.. I remember that year well. I'd been patrolling with whoever I met each night for months, then Nina shows up. We both gasped at each other's costumes and spirit animals. We realised we were thematic right away. Turns out she lived the other end of the same street as me.. just, she always spent time reading indoors._  
Annie took a bite out of her dinner, looking at Elin afterwards.  
_Four months later, I get a note to visit Twilight Stars. Seems Nina got the same note. When we arrived there, we were introduced to Elin who they had recognised was thematic with us, and she'd requested an introduction since she didn't know either of us. I thought there, we had our Team Wild._

The train of thought was soon derailed once more as Amy arrived at the table. The others paused as they tried to make sense of what her dinner choice was.  
“They ran out of a few things.. so I substituted.” Amy said.  
Annie tilted her head. “That breach last week must have affected food supplies more early than we though.”  
Amy grinned “Sure. Think what I have is bad, you should see what others are having.”  
The others looked around. A few plates could be spotted with some odd substitutions, a few looked empty missing parts of a meal.

_Not long after Elin joined, we encountered Amy one night. Someone had failed to finish off a monster which had started attacking in a rage while it was burning. None of us could deal with it, we just kept getting burnt by the fire. When it looked bad for us, a dragon swooped and chewed it up. I look at where it came from, there's Amy standing on a rooftop. She gave a wave and left fairly quickly afterwards. Took a whole morning of asking people if they knew anyone matching her description. Found out she ate outside, so I went to thank her for the night before. Simple thanks and leave job._

“Do you even have a sense of taste?” Elin gasped. She'd spotted Lucy approaching with a complete and utter mix of food, including fruit with gravy.  
Lucy placed her tray on the table. “It's food at the end of the day.” She sat down before continuing “And if you think that's bad, you should see what they ate in ancient history.”  
Nina was about to take another mouthful of food, but stopped. “I'll pass on that knowledge, thanks.”  
Amy turned to Lucy to ask “Oh, how's that new work-out thing?”  
Lucy chewed on some food and swallowed before answering. “It's strange, but it's not as bad as I thought it'd be. It's pretty quiet there on a Sunday after all.”  
“That's a surprise, I'd heard the Talauma Docker weight room was always busy.” came from a surprised Annie.  
“Apparently, it's only quiet on Sundays.. or at least that's what some pink haired girl tells me there.” replied Lucy.

Annie looked across her team. She was happy that Amy and Lucy got along so well. She was surprised to see Amy get along that well with anyone. She never bonded as well with Elin or Nina.

_The fact I didn't ask Amy her name. That stuck with her. She returned to where we met, and shadowed us for a few nights. The others noticed, but we never made any deal out of it. After a week, I was about to leave for the end of the day when I got handed an envelope with a note to read it alone. One meeting with her later, and we had an unofficial team member on specific conditions._

The rest of lunch was spent discussing latest gossip. A few girls noted how Lucy had started to become more muscular from working out on Sundays. Others had noted the change in hairstyle. She no longer had long, straight hair. The fox-torn hair had recently been cut into a short spiked style. 

_Lucy. She's always been a great friend. I was surprised when she got the dream.. but why? It's been years since the rest of us got the dream. She's going to be out there alone one day.. and that worries me._


	7. Dragons

The closing of the year. Time for friends and family. This year's closing is one for friends.

The sight of Future's Promise boarding house. Once an unfamiliar place, now it stood more familiar. Lucy looked up and down the entire length of the building before entering. She still remembered the first time she came here - an invitation, a surprise. This time, the surprise was to be the other way around.

After climbing the stairs, she stood at Amy's door. She knocked gently a couple of times. The door creaked open an inch and stopped. Amy peered through the gap to identify her visitor.  
“Oh!”  
The door opened wide.  
“I wasn't expecting anyone.” her voice was full of surprise, but her face said she welcomed the company.

Amy's apartment was just as it was months ago. No change in furnishings, and everything kept neat and orderly. The only difference was a bunch of paper scattered across her table. Lucy noticed the paper.  
“Homework.” Amy commented, grimacing. “This history stuff is the worst.”  
Lucy sat herself on one of the beanbags at the table, picking up a page. She looked at the topic. _The West-side Rebellion_.  
“Oh! This was real cool!” Lucy commented.  
Amy was surprised. She'd been struggling with the homework for a couple of days.  
“You never heard of this?” Lucy questioned with a hint of excitement.  
“Only just started it a couple of days ago. This is real tough.” admitted Amy.  
Lucy put the page back on the table, grinning. “Time for a history lesson.”

The next half-hour passed. Lucy excitedly telling the tale of the rebellion. Amy was surprised the whole time, but enjoyed the history lesson – Lucy was far more entertaining than any teacher from school.  
“One question. How did you know about the West-side Rebellion?” puzzled Amy.  
Lucy laughed. “I always was good at History. I was always known the be the history nerd at my former school..” her expression changed. “I also got bullied for that, alongside being so tall.”  
Amy pouted. “You should really show those bullies your magical girl form. They'd change their mind.”  
Memories of her first day after the dream flooded back to Lucy. “Oh, I already did.” A large grin emerged on Lucy's face before she continued. “Most of them fainted, or they ran away.”

**Knock. Knock.**

The knocking at the door surprised the pair of them. Amy gestured for Lucy to be quiet as she quietly approached the door. The same as before. She opened the door an inch to peer around.  
“Oh!” she exclaimed in surprise again before opening the door up fully.  
Lucy turned to see Annie standing at the door. The two exchanged a surprised look. Neither of them had planned to visit at the same time.  
Annie entered the apartment, seating herself on one of the beanbags. She noticed the pile of history homework. “Did I intrude on a secret history club or something?”  
Amy shook her head. “I was doing homework when Lucy knocked at my door. I wasn't even expecting anyone today.”  
Annie looked at the topic of the homework again. “Yeesh. That's a hard topic.”  
Lucy burst out laughing. Amy also laughed.  
“Hard for us, maybe. Not for Lucy, though.”  
Annie was surprised at first, but then remembered hearing that some younger girls were expected to be moving up classes soon and they were told to not be too surprised about their new classmates.  
“Are you being moved to a higher class for history soon?” questioned Annie.  
Lucy smiled. “Yeah. I was scolded for not listening to a lecture, and just showed the teacher my notes. The notes were a month ahead of what was being taught to the rest.. and then they gave me a test on it early. I got a hundred and one percent of the marks.”  
Amy looked surprised “How did you get more than a hundred?”  
“There was a mistake in the quote for one of the questions.. so I wrote the correction. I've never seen a teacher so embarrassed.” answered Lucy.  
The three of them laughed.

Amy composed herself first. “I get the feeling you two didn't come here to talk about history homework though.”  
Annie shuffled in the beanbag. “I got a few questions. I was wondering if you'd heard of some things.”  
She took a couple of pages of paper out of a small bag. The handwriting on one page was barely legible, but there were several drawings across the page. Lucy was looking at the page upside down from where she was sitting. Amy looked at the drawings first, trying to identify the scrawls.  
“Are these all supposed to be the same thing?” she asked.  
Annie sighed. “I think so. The person who asked me about them wasn't entirely clear.”  
Attention turned from the scrawled drawings to the writing. With a sigh, Amy stood up, took a couple of steps away from the table and transformed. She clicked her fingers immediately to summon her spirit dragon before turning back to the page.

 _Huh. That was unexpected._ Annie and Lucy shared the exact same thoughts. Lucy noticed her dragon was also looking at the page.  
“All I can think of here is a mythical monster.” Amy stated in monotone. “There's a mythical monster that takes the form of others. Nobody has actually confirmed this thing exists.”  
“And if it does?” asked Annie.  
“It might be a big problem.” replied Amy. Her attention turned away from the page. “All I can say is that's not something the C.D.D. believes is real.”  
Lucy tilted her head. “How do you know about so many monsters anyway?”  
Amy's expression went blank for a moment.  
“When my powers awoke, the C.D.D. provided some materials to prepare me to fight. One of those was a guide to all the various monsters they've heard about. It's proven useful. No surprises from monsters which have regenerative properties that way.”

Annie took back the first page. “What about this one?”  
Amy winced at the picture. It looked like someone had drawn a banana hugging an egg with googly eyes on it. Lucy looked, trying not to laugh.  
“That is one terrible drawing..” commented Amy. Her eyes and her dragon's focused on it more. The pair seemed in suspended animation for a couple of minutes before they moved next. Amy looked up, her transformation reversing. She sat in the beanbag and laughed.  
“Soluna. Sun and Moon monster. Only ever appears on the night of a full moon.” she smiled. “Not too dangerous. Has a weak point where the sun and moon meet.”

Lucy turned to Amy. “Why did you transform there?”  
Amy paused before answering. She had to take a moment to think how to convert the instinctive use of her powers into words. “It's sort of.. two minds to think instead of one there. I share thoughts with my spirit dragon, I think?”  
“Like some sort of shared consciousness?” suggested Annie.  
Amy nodded. “Something like that.. at least I don't have to share a stomach with it.. who knows how monsters taste.”  
“Yeah, your dragon eats a lot of monsters up.” commented Lucy before she turned to question “but why does it eat so many?”  
“Simple.” replied Amy. “Eaten monsters cannot recover at all. Remember the Mouthburger? The monster with all the eyes and arms?”  
Lucy nodded, signalling for Amy to continue.  
“That monster split into pieces. Given a few minutes, it regenerates into a lot of similar, smaller, monsters. They're not as threatening, but still a nasty surprise if you don't expect them.”

 _That sounds horrible_ noted Lucy. The thought of having to re-fight a monster was now in her mind, and not a pleasant one.

“Oh, I should probably make us some food.” said Amy, noticing the time.  
Annie stood up and stopped her. “How about we go eat out, my treat for the upcoming year?”  
Amy and Lucy looked at each other, smiling before turning to Annie. “Sure”


	8. Research

Lunchtime. A couple of weeks have passed since the beginning of the year.

Nina had arrived at the lunch table ahead of everyone else. Books lay on the table. Homework. This was one monster too many for her to cope with. _This is the worst_ she thought. She started to eat while looking at the questions she had to answer. Focusing on the questions, she missed the arrival of Annie to the table. Elin's arrival couldn't be missed. The noisy chair dragging and tray drop.

“Yoooo! Whatcha read- Oh. Homework? Lame.” Elin spouted energetically.  
Nina sighed. “At least I do my homework, unlike someone.”  
Elin grinned. Nina spotted the grin and added “And flushing your homework down the toilet does not count as completion.”  
Elin called out “Science!” in triumph.   
Amy and Lucy arrived with their lunches. Elin's eyes widened at the sight.  
“Yoooo! You two are totally dating, right?!” she cried.  
Nina sighed at the comment. Lucy and Amy looked at each other.  
“We're not dating, silly” stated Lucy calmly.

Amy noticed the books Nina had laid out. _History books. The worst kind of homework_. She looked at Lucy before turning to Nina. “You could ask Lucy for help, you know.”  
Nina paused for a moment. “Are you sure? She's the youngest member here.. What does she know about history?”  
“A surprising lot. She was transferred to my class a few days ago.” commented Annie.

Silence. Elin and Nina sat in surprise. Lucy continued eating as if nothing happened. Amy paused to speak. “I was surprised too. She's better than my history teacher too.”  
Now curious to what was troubling Nina, Lucy glanced over at the books. “What's the topic?”  
“The Crimson Empress” stated Nina.  
“Oh! That's from the early years of the city. There's still a small section of the population who descended from that magical girl, if I remember right.” replied Lucy as Amy looked in intrigue.  
Nina looked impressed. “Yeah, that's right. Just these questions are monsters.. like.. what is it they called a long?”  
Amy interrupted quickly. “A dragon.” She clicked her fingers. “You know, the same kind as what I summon.. and that I have as my name?”  
Nina was surprised. “Your name is literally dragon?”  
Amy nodded.  
“I thought it was funny how I got a brown bear as my powers. Just like how Annie has a grey wolf.” commented Lucy.  
_Powers fitting the name? I wonder what my name actually means_ pondered Nina.

Lucy and Annie traded places at the table, allowing Lucy to sit next to Nina. They spent the next ten minutes discussing details about The Crimson Empress and the resulting sub-culture in the city. Amy added her own comments, sometimes adding words in Mandarin, much to the confusion of Elin who couldn't make sense of anything being said.

  
At the end of the school day, Nina was still questioning how her friends had powers fitting their names. Rather than heading home, she took the train a little further, arriving at a different destination.

The Library.

Passing through the weathered oak doors, she took a moment to adjust to where everything was. It'd been a while since she was last here and plenty had changed. The floor had a flat, firm, grey carpet. The children's section was located by the door, a few young readers were sitting on various large cushions intended for seating. The shelves had finally been sorted into zoned aisles, rather than the chaotic maze of books and shelves that Nina remembered from her last visit.

Passing the science and technology section, she noticed an excited young blonde haired girl talking about trees and photosynthesis to two older men. One of the men stood out being much older while also having a jacket and pants with a large number of pockets.   
The fiction section was quiet. Just a couple of ladies browsing the romance novels, gossiping about various people while selecting books. Nina was amused how one looked similar to their team manager. She finally reached the language books. Another girl was here with black hair, appearing to be of Chinese descent. 

_Where to start_. Nina started by taking various books, browsing them one by one. German? Nope. Not in this one. French? No luck with this one either. Book after book, nothing was matching up. _Maybe Kaplan is just a name after all_ she thought to herself. Nearly half an hour later, and several books later, she picked up an old, beaten up, Turkish dictionary. She flicked through the remaining pages, not expecting much. This was the only Turkish translation dictionary in the library, and pages were torn and missing all over the place. Flipping through, locating the words beginning with K, she started to browse down before coming to a stop.

There it stood. Kaplan. It was no longer just a name, it now had a meaning.

Kaplan. Tiger.

Nina stood there. Stunned. Three years as a magical girl, and only just discovering your last name may have influenced your powers? This was too much for the poor girl to take in. Seeking one answer, she got an answer. And a lot more questions to accompany it.


	9. Wildcard

Three months pass. A meeting at Twilight Stars is called – Jessica has things she wishes to discuss with the Wild girls.

Lucy, Nina and Elin found themselves waiting on Annie, as usual. They knew the meeting time had be scuffed by Jessica on purpose.  
“For someone who carries a clock, she sure is late a lot.” commented Nina.   
Lucy laughed. “If she wasn't late, we'd all be suspicious that she were an imposter!”

The three girls waited another five minutes before Annie popped into sight. It was clear she'd run all the way from the station again. They let her catch her breath before entering Twilight Stars.

The polished halls were a familiar sight for all of them. A few posters on the walls had been updated. They reached the waiting area, their team poster was now updated with Lucy as part of the team image. Elin rushed to sit in a chair, pausing before landing in the chair. Nina and Lucy similarly paused for a moment.

A hooded figure was sitting, waiting, in one of the chairs. Annie took a seat and smiled. She recognised the figure.  
“Well, aren't you the surprise today.” commented Annie.  
Realisation hit Lucy. “Oh! I didn't expect to see you here.”  
Elin leaned forwards on her seat, eventually spotting the face under the hood. She went to smile, but ended up crashing face first onto the floor as the seat toppled over.  
Nina sighed. “That is why you should actually try and complete your science homework.”  
“I figured it was about time I came along.” Amy looked up. “I'm not sure they have a clue about me yet, though.”

Jessica emerged from her office, she stopped in surprise to see five girls in the waiting area. She summoned them to her office, as usual. As everyone passed, she tried to get a passing glance at Amy, but her hoodie obscured Jessica's view. 

“So, I'm assuming this is the Wild Dragon that I've heard about?” questioned Jessica, closing the door.  
“That would be correct.” answered Amy, who was scanning the office.  
Lucy, Annie, Nina and Elin had taken their seats at the large desk, while Amy remained standing, turned away from the desk. Jessica took her seat.  
“Why don't you sit down?” she asked.  
Amy turned slightly and paused. “A question first. What do you know about me?”  
The question stunned Jessica. She was not prepared to meet Amy for the first time, let alone answer her question.  
“You use the title Wild Dragon, and have joined Team Wild while avoiding me.” answered Jessica with a pause. “That is all.”  
Amy put down the hood of her hoodie, revealing her crimson hair in full before turning to the table and sitting down.  
Annie looked at Amy, wondering what she was up to.  
“That is good. Shame your office tells me more about you than what you know about me.” Amy's tone was almost mocking.  
Flustered, Jessica asked “And what is that?”  
Amy pointed to various posters. “Successful manager. Assigned some of the more difficult teams.”  
She pointed to an umbrella in the corner of the room. “Protection against the sun. Looks like you burn in the sunlight. Explains why this office is towards the middle of the building, without a window looking outside.”  
Everyone else was surprised. A further look at Jessica, and realisation hit. Her hair was dyed to look a natural red, but was in fact a very faint, near white, blonde. Her eyes were blue, and her skin was ghostly pale. _Albinism_.  
“And finally, you like to keep a file on individual members of teams.” was Amy's triumphant final comment.

The room turned silent. Jessica was at a loss for words. Nobody had ever spoken to her like that before, nor had anyone been so brave enough to call out against her. Not even Team Metal, whom she had thought of as the most difficult, abrasive team that she had ever managed.  
The silence held for a couple of minutes before being broken by Annie. “So, what's on the agenda for today?”  
Jessica composed herself. She straightened herself up in her chair, before lifting up a notepad to read from it.  
“Well, the original plan was to talk about some merchandising opportunities.. However, it seems like some of these will need to be adjusted thanks to little miss red here.” Jessica's voice put special emphasis on the word red.  
_Wow. I've never known Jessica be this steamed before_ thought Annie to herself. Lucy looked at Amy.  
“Also, I'm going to need your name.” Jessica stated, glaring at Amy.  
Amy grinned. “Wild Dragon.”  
“An actual name. Some of these merchandise companies don't like to produce items on just a magical girl title.” barked Jessica.  
“Um.. Can she just give a one-word name?” questioned Lucy.  
Jessica sighed. “If it's absolutely necessary. Why all the secrecy anyway?”  
“That's something to ask the C.D.D.” bluntly replied Amy.

A silent pause filled the air.  
“You can call me Amy.”

“So, what kind of merchandise are we looking at this time?” Annie questioned quickly, directing the conversation away from Amy.  
Jessica passed a letter across the table. “Punko Pops. They're interested in making a Team Wild set of figures. What do you all think?”  
Elin grinned. “They're weird but so cool! I want to be one!”  
Nina didn't look too convinced. “I dunno. I always think they look creepy.”  
Annie picked up the letter to read it before answering. She placed the letter down, turning it around while pointing to a section.  
“Let's get the sample production first, and see how they look before we agree.” Annie was firm in her response.  
Lucy nodded in agreement.  
“Sounds fair. Does that include me?” questioned Amy.  
“Only if you want to be.” replied Jessica.  
“Count me in then.” responded Amy.

Jessica filed away the Punko offer. The next page on the table had an offer about making mugs. Elin saw it and blew a raspberry.  
“Those rubbish mugs? NO WAY!” she called out bitterly.  
Nina looked puzzled, then had a realisation. “Those mugs that look super cool, then the handles fall off because they didn't design them properly? I'll pass on that too.”  
“I take it you've already read the next offer?” Jessica stated rhetorically knowing that they'd already peeked at her paperwork.  
She moved the page aside, revealing one last offer.  
“Keyrings.” she stated, lifting the page with a sample attached to it.  
The keyring attached to the page was a simple painted metal disc. The sample had included Annie's sigil on the design.  
“There would be one for each of you. Each one would be your magical girl sigil.” she continued.

All the girls agreed, except Amy.  
“I'm not sure the C.D.D. would agree to using that for merchandise.” stated Amy.  
Jessica looked with interest at Amy. She now had a theory, but said nothing.

The next ten minutes were spent discussing smaller details about the team. After that, the meeting was over. Elin and Nina left first, Lucy followed out next. As Annie reached the door, Jessica looked at Amy.  
“May I ask a quick question?” she asked.  
Annie closed the office door, rather than leaving. Amy paused, not answering or moving. Jessica took the long pause as a moment to ask the question.  
“Does the name of Fractured Midnight mean something to you?” asked Jessica.  
Amy turned, frowning. Annie had a worried look on her face.  
“If it does, I can understand why the C.D.D. is concerned. I can deny all knowledge of the connection and say-” said Jessica, prior to being interrupted.  
“Thank you.” stated Amy before moving to leave.  
Annie opened the door for Amy, smiling to Jessica while nodding before leaving herself.

 _Well. This just got really awkward_. Jessica thought to herself. _I really do get the difficult ones_.

  
Outside of Twilight Stars, the girls gathered to enjoy the fresh air and sunlight.  
“Well, that was different.” commented Nina about the meeting.  
“I didn't expect Amy to ever come to one of these” was Annie's first comment “but it's a real pleasant surprise.”  
“It was almost like we had a detective in there at the start. I never would have noticed half that myself.” noted Lucy.  
Amy blushed. “I thought it was just simple details. I always notice those sort of things.”  
“Yoooo. What was that about her burning in the sun?” asked Elin.  
“Albinism. The skin doesn't generate the colour pigment that happens when people tan in the sun, so those people remain pale and just burn instead. They also tend to have white, or almost white, hair all their lives.” replied Amy.  
“Ever thought of being an author? You notice so many good details, I think you'd be good at it.” asked Nina.  
“It's an option. I have other ideas though.” came the reply. “But for now, anyone want to buy lunch?”


	10. Moonlight

A few hours have passed since their meeting. The sun has set.

Elin approached the cafe. The usual meeting spot. The chairs had been placed upon the tables, signalling the place was closed. She was the first there, as usual. Her impatience showing with subtle bounces in her movement from being frustrated. She had to wait for someone else to arrive. She took the chairs off one table before laying on it, staring off into the night sky.

 _Full moon tonight_ she thought to herself _. Might be a few uncommon monsters tonight. Big sis noticed that before me.. and she's never been a magical girl. Pretty sure Amy also commented about the full moon monsters. No idea where she gets all this information from though._

Five minutes passed. Footsteps from two directions prompted a quick sitting up. Looking around, she spotted Lucy and Amy arriving at the same time. She looked at the two and grinned.  
“Yooo! You two keep arriving together. You sure you're not dating?” she asked, mischievously.  
“No. We aren't dating.” replied Lucy.  
Amy sighed. “I thought you might have stopped asking that. You've asked that question forty-seven times now.”  
Elin was surprised. She had no idea how many times she'd asked that question, and couldn't believe Amy was keeping count.  
“Did you just make that number up?” she asked.  
Amy shook her head. “Nope. You asked it enough times, that I started keeping count.”

A couple of minutes passed, and the sound of running footsteps approaching made the girls look. A man ran past, fumbling in his pocket. They watched as he turned to a house, frantically seeking his door key. Eventually, he found his key, entered his home and locked the door behind him.  
“Pretty late for someone to be returning home.” commented Lucy.  
“Still plenty of time” replied Elin.  
“Not everyone can run like you, I hope you realise?” was Amy's reply to Elin.  
Lucy was still looking at the home he entered. “Still. I can imagine the panic for someone without powers. Not being inside at this time has got to be scary.”

Eight minutes passed. Two sets of footsteps approaching, rapidly. The girls looked around to see who the steps belonged to. To their surprise, it was both Nina and Annie. The pair seemingly racing. Annie picked up the pace, placing her hand on the table with Nina just behind.  
Panting, she commented “Victory!”  
Nina pouted, before sitting on one of the chairs.  
Elin looked in disbelief. “W-w-wait.. Did Annie just..” A giant grin appeared on her face, her voice turning to mockery, “Arrive before Nina?”

Annie and Nina took a minute to catch their breath. They had clearly been racing for a bit. Nina caught her breath first.  
“So, I was walking along, when I realised I was being followed.” said Nina.  
Annie, having caught her breath, added “When she looked around, I started to run to catch up.. so Nina started to run, and it went from there.”  
“I also remember you saying you'd buy the team lunch if Annie ever arrived before you.” commented Amy.  
Nina was shocked. She'd completely forgotten she'd said that in the past. “Ugghhh... Why are you so good at remembering things?”  
Elin licked her lips as if she could already taste her next meal. Lucy simply laughed at the whole thing.

Annie spent the next ten minutes outlining the plan for the night. Pretty much the usual plan, and a reminder to keep an eye out for unusual monsters. With the plan given to the team and time to spare, Annie wasn't sure how to spend the remaining time before the barrier rising. Nina noticed quickly.  
“Not used to being on-time for once?” she smirked.  
Annie looked to the sky. “It's so strange. I don't know what to do now.”  
“So, how come you're not running late this time?” asked Lucy.  
Annie was surprised. She didn't even know herself how she wasn't running late. An awkward silence filled the air.  
“So you beat me here, by being lucky?” asked Nina in disbelief.  
“Pretty much.” replied an embarrassed Annie.

  
Several minutes passed. Eventually Annie's alarm went off, signalling time for the girls to transform before the announcement for the night rang out. A few minute later, the barrier flooded through the streets. Tonight was destined to be midnight blue with a wood-grain effect rippling through. The windows turned a flat, glossy, turquoise. 

_This one's kind of soothing. Full moon though. Best keep alert._ Amy was noting the night's environment. The group followed their route, nothing seemed to appear at all. Ten minutes passed.  
_I do not like this. We should have encountered something by now._ Amy's concerns grew for another couple of minutes.  
“This is too quiet.” she commented nervously.  
“Yeah, this feels weird.” added Nina.  
“Just keep alert. If you get too nervous, you'll stop paying attention and get jumped.” was a calm reply from Annie.

Five more minutes passed. A quiet chittering from the rooftops above them nearly went missed.  
“Hold up a moment.” said Lucy, gesturing a stop motion with her hand.  
The group paused as Lucy listened. She picked up the faint noise again.  
“I think we're about to have company.” she added, pointing up.  
The group looked up, just in time for a bunch of shadows raining down upon them. They didn't have much time to identify the monsters. Elin dashing to strike monsters that landed near Amy, letting her get some distance from the pack.

A brief visual on the monsters. They appeared to be small formless monsters with sabre teeth for arms and legs. Some of them took on a fully spherical body, others took longer shapes to stand upright or bend around objects. The girls didn't have much trouble dispatching them, despite being a large pack of monsters. Amy however, was having trouble with two strays that separated her from the rest of the team.  
_Ugh. This is not ideal. So the formless are getting teeth tonight. Guess that's what this full moon's bringing us_ she thought, ducking under the jumping pounce of one of the beasts.  
The second one made a jump for her, but was deflected by her dragon spirit tackling it. She directed it to bite the monster. The fangs of the spectral being sunk into the monster. Ineffective, it just squeezed out of of the dragon's mouth.  
_What. That should have worked._  
She turned, having to punch the other one to block its attack. The monster bounced off slightly, but was unfazed by the hit. She sent the signal to her dragon to launch a flame breath attack at the other monster behind her. The flames singed the monster, but left it standing. Fortunately, for her, the monster was now more interested in attacking her dragon, giving her a moment to spar with the other monster. It took a leap at her, she grabbed its arm-teeth, throwing it away.  
_Really would have been useful if I had gotten powers that let me attack more directly._  
“A little help here?” Amy yelled.  
Elin went to run to help, but was quickly stopped by a couple more monsters landing in her path, forcing her to step back.  
_Force yourself through. We can do this_. A voice echoed in Lucy's mind.   
“I'll go.” stated Lucy.  
She started to run. A few monsters jumped down to stop her, but she didn't care. She ran through them, their strikes giving her scratches on her legs and arms. Nina pounced on the monsters behind Lucy, tearing them apart with her tiger spirit's fangs.

Upon reaching the monsters by Amy, Lucy pinned the first to the floor with a double paw slam to stun it, before slashing it with both arms for a quick finish.  
“You alright?” she asked.  
Amy nodded, as her dragon picked up the last monster in its mouth and threw it at Lucy who dispatched it with the same slashing motion she used for the previous one.  
“Seems like I can't harm these ones. They resist anything I can do.” sighed Amy.  
“Stay here then.” Lucy said with a smile, as she turned to rush back to the others.

 _Still feels weird when my powers talk to me directly. It's like the bear is sentient_ mused Lucy.

Amy, having been freed from combat, sent her dragon up to scout the rooftops. The link between them told her there were just a few left, so she instructed it to tackle them and knock them all down to the street.  
“That should be the last of them now!” she yelled as the last one was sent tumbling to the street below.  
One by one, the monsters were dispatched. Nina landed the final blow with a pouncing strike.  
“How many were there?” Nina asked with disdain.  
“Something more than twenty?” answered Elin, not confident in her answer.  
“Seemed closer to thirty.” added Annie. “Certainly the largest pack I've ever encountered.”  
_Where's the leader? Keep your guard up_ echoed a voice in Lucy's head. She looked around for a bit.  
“Don't big packs like this usually have a leader?” questioned a concerned Lucy.  
“That's a point.” answered Amy as she rejoined the group. “There's surely got to be something lurking around here.”

The team's patrol carried on as normal. Five minutes passed before the next monsters arrived. A few eagle-like monsters. They kept their distance, trying to swoop down from above in the form of an ambush. The group was able to evade their attacks with ease, but they found the monsters were bailing out of their attacks once noticed. The number of monsters dwindled quickly as Amy directed her dragon to burn them out of the sky.   
“At least these ones don't resist my dragon.” Amy commented.

They carried on, reaching an intersection on the path. The routes were clear, so they took their turn right and carried on. A small group of eye-spiders were scratching at parts of the barrier down the street, so they rushed forwards to get the monsters' attention. This proved ultimately successful as the spiders turned away from the walls, rushing towards the team.  
_Something feels off_ thought Lucy.  
The spiders were easy prey. Quick swipes easily disposed of them. The number of spiders quickly fell to zero.  
“Well, that was..” said Elin.

**Crunch.**

The sound of breaking stone behind them left the group to turn around.

**Crunch. Crunch.**

More stone broke as large legs slammed down through the barrier on the street, momentarily breaking the seal before it repaired itself.

“What is that?!” asked Elin in surprise.

A three legged monstrosity stood in the street. The legs as thick as a baby elephant stood connected to a body resembling a brain made up of a series of thick electrical wires, connected to a series of eyes spread throughout the mess of the monster. One eye sat deeper inside the wire-brain, much larger than all the others.

“Something new.” noted Amy, concerned. This was a monster that she had not seen before, and wasn't part of the known monsters that the C.D.D. had informed her of.  
Lucy moved to the front of the group.  
“Any ideas on how we should tackle this one?” she asked.  
Elin spotted movement inside the monster. “It's about to move!”

The brain monster opened up, exposing its larger eye. The eye began to glow with a rainbow colouring.  
_Brace yourself, now!_ came the voice inside Lucy's head.  
“Behind me!” yelled Lucy.  
Just after finishing those words, the eye of the monster flashed. Lucy curled into a defensive position, leading to her spirit bear doubling up in size.  
A stream of rainbow flames, moving at high speed blasted down the street, striking against the bear directly. The rest of the girls were located behind Lucy, the flames narrowly missing them. They could feel the intense energy passing beside them.

After the flames subsided, the girls rushed out to the monster. Elin arriving first, striking the legs with no effect.  
“Try the body!” the young vixen yelled.  
Nina pounced up at the monster, landing in the mess of wires. She clawed at it, like a frenzied kitten with a ball of yarn. Annie leaped up, joining Nina. The pair of them, ripping the wires apart like a bunch of feral animals. They were shortly joined by Amy's dragon, which gave the big eye a roasting. The monster thrashed around at this. The girls hung on, riding the monster like a bucking bronco, all while ripping it apart.

Amy rushed over to Lucy, who had not moved after taking the large hit.

Elin jumped up, joining the other girls in ripping the monster to shreds. The three of them were quickly tearing through the monster. Annie managed to reach the main eye, landing a series of savage strikes, tearing a hole in the eye which proceeded to ooze liquid down to the ground. As the eye drained, the monster became still.

“Are you alright?” asked Amy, in a state of panic.

The monster started to crumble to dust with each successive hit. Defeated, it crashed into a pile of grey sludge. The girls noticed that Lucy hadn't joined that fight, and rushed over to check on her.

“Please be alright..” whispered Amy.

Lucy moved from her curled up position. Several burn marks on her body, also smelling like a ham joint that had been roasted in molten sugar.  
“Pretty sore.” Lucy replied, her voice echoing the pain she felt.

“You take it ease now.” said Annie. “You saved us, so you've earned a break.”  
“Pretty sure none of us could have taken that.. so thanks” added Nina. “And do take that break. We've got it from here.”


	11. Diner

The wild night over. A new day rose up.

“I know a place we can get lunch later.” said Amy. “It's not too far from here, actually.”  
The others agreed, while Amy shared directions.

  
A diner sitting on the corner of a street. The red backgrounded sign reading “Mama Maho's” signalled the place. A poster in the window indicating the diner is exclusively for magical girls. No fans. No Interviewers. The perfect place for a relaxing atmosphere.

Amy was waiting outside. The first arrival being Elin, as expected.  
“No surprise that you're here first” Amy stated.  
“Aren't you the first though?” replied Elin, with special emphasis on the you part.  
The response was met with silence, to which Elin began to grin at.

Seven minutes passed before Nina, Lucy and Annie all arrived together. Elin looked surprised to see all three arriving together.  
“Annie's not late twice in a row?” asked a surprised Elin.  
“I kind of knocked on her door to remind her. She rushed to get a few things ready, then we came along together. Nina left her place just as we reached the end of the street” stated Lucy.

The girls made their way inside the diner. The interior of the diner was dominantly pink. Walls, the ceiling and even the floor. All different shades of pink. Seating and tables made a refreshing contrast in red. Posters of magical girls hung on the walls – Both current and retired girls. They found a booth that all five of them could sit in, making their way there and sitting down. 

Elin slid up to Nina just to remind her “Don't forget, you're the one paying for all this after last night.”  
Nina pushed the mischievous girl away, “Don't remind me.”  
Lucy grabbed one of the menus, sharing it with Annie. It was their first time here, so this was a whole new menu to them. Amy picked up a menu and passed it to Nina, who was still trying to keep Elin from giving mischievous grins to her face. She picked up another one and bonked Elin on the head with it.  
“You probably should decide what you want.” stated Amy.  
Lucy noticed Amy wasn't reading a menu. “What about you?”  
“I've been here several times before.” replied Amy. “Real good place to lie-low at the end of a night, if you don't want unnecessary attention.”  
Annie turned to Amy. “How do they manage that?”  
Amy laughed. “You should see Mama Maho and her broom. Gets most of the non-magical girl crowd out.”  
Nina looked up. “Most?”  
“If the broom failed, her right hook usually sent the paparazzi flying out the door.”

After a few minutes, a waitress came along. Her refined movements almost looked out of place for the diner. With her straightened hair, and well cleaned clothes, it was clear this waitress took pride in hear appearance. The girls noticed wore a name badge reading Zara.  
The orders were placed. Turkey burger and Fries was a popular one among the team, with three orders. Fish burger and fries was the next order. Finally, Spiced Cheese Dumplings. The last one wasn't written on the menu, but accepted in the order anyway. With a curtsey, the waitress left to walk the order to the kitchen.  
“I don't recall seeing that on the menu, Amy.” commented Annie.  
“There's a few things not listed, but you learn them if you come here enough times.” replied Amy.

Amy turned to Lucy. “Are you sure you're alright after last night? You still smell like sugar.”  
“I feel fine. The burns are all gone, and I don't feel sore.” replied Lucy “I guess this also saves on perfume.”  
“But what was with that monster?” asked Annie.  
Amy shrugged. “Seems like it's a new arrival. There's not been any reports of a monster like that before.”  
Elin looked starry-eyed. “Didn't you mention that sometimes unusual monsters appear with a full moon?”  
Amy nodded to confirm. “Monsters often appear with unusual traits on a night with a full moon.”  
“Now that you mention it, small formless monsters don't usually have large solid parts. We faced monsters like that last night.” noted Nina.

The waitress returned with their meals upon a tray.   
“Are you all discussing the unusual monsters from last night's full moon?” queried the waitress.  
“Yeah, and Lucy here protected us all by blocking a wave of fire by standing in the way!” barked Elin excitedly, pointing at Lucy in the process.  
A look of horror appeared on the waitress' face. Amy spotted it quickly.  
“It's alright Zara. Lucy has protective powers. She takes a lot less damage than anyone I've known, and heals way faster than anyone else too.” calmly stated Amy.  
“It's so dangerous to do that though!” stated Zara. “I've seen what can happen.. and it's horrible.”  
Zara handed the meals out across the table.  
“I know it's not my place to say this but, please, take care out there.” Zara sounded more like she was asking them.  
Before the waitress count turn around, Nina turned to ask a question. “Were you a magical girl?”  
“Yes. I was, a long time ago.” Zara replied. “I also lost a very good friend one night. I miss her a lot.. so please, take care.”  
Zara left to leave the team to their meals.

The girls began to eat, the words of their waitress sitting on their minds. Amy looked at Lucy.  
“Something on your mind?” she asked.  
Lucy swallowed the food in her mouth. “Right before that monster launched its attack last night, I heard a voice instructing me to protect you all.”  
Annie stopped eating for a moment. “Like the voice of your bear's spirit?”  
Lucy nodded.  
“You're not the only one. Early on, I often found myself being instructed by Wolf as to how to use its power more effectively.” continued Annie.  
“Wait, you too?!” both Elin and Nina said with synchronicity, surprising the other.  
“But why would Bear tell me to protect you all by putting me in harm's way?” asked Lucy, not really expecting anyone to have an answer.  
The table went quiet as they continued to eat.  
“I think your Bear is trying to tell you that you have protective powers.” suggested Amy. “But even so, be careful.”  
Annie stopped to add “Overconfidence leads to mistakes. I remember a girl bragging in class how she was unstoppable. Next day, she had two broken arms.”  
“That made her armless!” spouted Elin with a mouthful of food.  
Most of the others rolled their eyes and groaned. It was impossible to tell if they were unimpressed with the pun, or the fact Elin spouted it out with a mouthful of food.

A little while later, they finished their meals and payment time came along. Zara had come along to collect, and was surprised to find Nina was paying for the whole bill.  
“You're paying for everyone's food? Well.. aren't you generous.” said Zara.  
Nina sighed. “Actually. I made a bet and lost it.. so I now have to pay.”  
The whole table, except Nina, started to laugh.


	12. Ghosts

The management office. Not a familiar sight, yet. After all, the first visit was just a couple of months prior.

Amy and Jessica were the only ones in the office. Nobody else had been told about this meeting.  
Both of them were avoiding eye contact with each other to begin with. Jessica, back to the table, standing facing towards the far wall of the office. Amy similarly, but facing towards the wall with the door.  
“I assume you know already.” said Amy, with a bitter tone.  
“Unfortunately, yes.” replied Jessica. “News that my job just got harder.”

Amy turned, moving a chair and sitting down at the table. The hood of her hoodie still up. The recent news that somehow her mother had been approved for her sentence to be served under house arrest left an acidic aftertaste. The idea of running into her was the greatest fear for Amy.  
“I have some questions” stated Jessica.  
“And some of them are requiring a history lesson.” replied Amy.

The room turned silent as Jessica paused. A minute passed before she turned around and took a seat at the table.  
“I expect you already know what I need to ask you.” admitted Jessica.  
“The first question being who raised me, I expect.” replied Amy, reading the situation.  
“Correct.”  
Amy sighed. She did not have a solid answer to this question.  
“I'm not sure if this is entirely correct, but I believe I was adopted by someone from the C.D.D. up until the day my powers awoke.” she stated.

“Second question. Do you know who your father is?” asked Jessica.  
Amy laughed. “No idea. Nobody knows. I think the only person that knows..” her expression turning from laughter to pure bitterness “is my mother.”  
Jessica breathed a sigh of relief. “That makes things easier.”  
Amy looked surprised.  
Jessica looked at her with a serious expression. “From how I see it, you're an orphan with unknown parents as far as anyone's concerned.”  
“You're missing more of the picture.” stated Amy.

“Lóng”. Amy put this one word out.  
“One moment.” replied Jessica, as she stood up from her chair. She moved from the table, over to a filing cabinet. Flicking through, she selected a few files out, tucking them under her arm before returning to the table.  
“You're not the first one.” stated Jessica as she put the files on the table. Historic magical girls, all with the same last name. “Descendants of the days of magical girl dynasties.”  
Amy looked at the files. Two of the girls were active the same time, but not related based on the information on show.  
“So.. You're saying my last name could simply be a common name linked back to history?” Amy asked with intrigue.  
“Exactly.” replied Jessica.

  
Jessica placed the files back into the cabinet, thinking over the conversation. _until the day her powers awoke? How odd_ she thought.  
Returning to the table, she asked “New question. You mentioned that you were adopted until the day your powers awoke. What happened after?”  
Amy looked like a deflated balloon. “That day was a whirlwind. First, they're filing my registration papers that had already been filled in from what I saw. Next thing, they're moving me to Future's Promise Boarding House while leaving me a load of information books to read.”  
Jessica was surprised. This was a whole new situation to her. She had never heard of such a thing happening throughout her entire career. “So, they just left you on your own with no contact?”  
Amy shook her head. “Not quite. They would visit daily for the first couple of weeks. I've also got a few phone numbers for various people from the C.D.D. for various things. They also send money to pay for things like food, furniture, and similar things.”

“That concludes what I need to know. If anyone asks me about you, I'll just say you're an orphan child. If anyone asks if you're related to your mother, I will deny it.” Jessica stated.  
“Thank you.” replied Amy.

Jessica watched Amy move to leave her office. Just before the door, Amy paused and turned around. “Oh, please don't tell the others. They don't all know about this.”  
“I won't. Meetings are professional after all.” replied Jessica.  
Amy turned towards the door, leaving and closing it behind herself.

_Poor child. Carrying that much has got to be a burden on her. I really hope there's someone she confides in._


	13. Reunions

Water Street. Aptly named for the river flowing alongside the street. A gentle breeze hanging in the air, with the occasional leaf riding from the trees that decided to let go in early September.

“'Ey. Where d'ya think yer goin lassie?” taunted a male with a shaven head.  
A poor young girl stood shaking. “H-Home.”  
She turned to try and walk away from the male, just to be stopped by an oversized belly bouncing her back like a bouncy castle ride.  
“That's my belly you walked into there.” scowled the huge bellied man.  
“This 'ere is our street. Y'gotta pay yer toll girlie.” mocked the shaven male.  
More figures joined the street, blocking the street off.

  
Bridge Street. The train was pulling into the station. Multiple girls departed from the train. A rainbow flurry of hair leaving to head to various places.  
Lucy left the train alongside Elin. Annie and Nina stayed on the train. They intended to go to the library for homework. Elin took a right turn out of the station, whereas Lucy headed straight ahead, down the main part of the street.  
The cobblestoned path was always a familiar sight. A sign that home was close. The bridge wasn't far, just half a kilometre. After crossing the bridge and passing a couple of stores set alongside the waterfront, Lucy turned into Water Street.

The terrified girl was still there, accosted by the gang seeking money. Lucy walked up behind the gang.  
“Still picking on kids, are we?” she said coldly.  
The gang froze. They knew this voice.  
“Oh, hey, it's Lucy.” mocked one. “Y'payin too.”  
The shaven male looked surprised “That ain't wise, Kevvo.” he replied while backing away.  
Kevin turned to the shaven guy. “You might be a coward Zeek, but I ain't.”  
He turned to Lucy, holding a hand out. “Toll, or go away.”

 _Do these idiots not realise what they're doing?_ Lucy thought to herself.  
“You'll let us go, else you will regret it.” snarled Lucy.  
The terrified girl tried to make a run for it, but was grabbed by a girl in the gang who mockingly held the girl up by her arm.  
“Aww, trying to run? Too bad.” she mocked.  
“Nice one, Rita.” called out Kevin.  
Kevin turned back to Lucy. “Time to make you pay up.”

As Kevin rushed to fight Lucy, she sidestepped his first assault. The brute swinging wide and stumbling. A fair bit shorter than Lucy. Looking like every day is gym day, Kevin picked his muscle mass up and turned to Lucy once more. He cracked his neck, then his knuckles.

 _Idiot._  
“I warned you.” said Lucy.  
As Kevin rushed to strike her, she promptly transformed. Kevin's punches striking without her flinching. Spirit bear was nowhere to be seen.  
Several members of the gang were now standing, jaws dropped. A few were considering running.  
“Always wan'ed ta fight a magical girl.” smiled Kevin.  
Lucy's costume adapted itself by desummoning her claws. Kevin rushed to fight Lucy. She matched him punch for punch, not taking advantage of any openings that presented themselves.

Lucy let the sparring match go on for three minutes. Having not even broken a sweat, she stared at Kevin in silence. The other gang members commenting on how Kevin was in way over his head, and some even commenting Lucy's body being far more muscular since she became a magical girl.  
Kevin launched himself at Lucy with more fury, adding kicks to his punches. He seemed more like a wild beast than a human being at this point. Lucy kept up with most of his frenzied assault for the next two minutes.  
She noticed how he was starting to sweat, while she still hadn't broken a sweat. “Idiot.” she stated.  
Kevin turned around. “What did you call me?”  
“An idiot.” replied Lucy who promptly summoned her bear's spirit before rushing Kevin with a tackle, launching him into the river effortlessly.

With the roar of a bear, she turned to the rest of the gang.  
“I believe you are letting us through now.”  
Rita placed the girl back down. Her terror now turned to awe as Lucy walked through the crowd towards her. Lucy took the young girl's hand, and escorted her through the gang who were now backing away.  
After passing the gang, Lucy turned around “You better clear off. This is **my** street.”  
Zeek promptly addressed the gang “You heard the princess. We gotta clear out.”

Lucy let go of the young girl's hand.  
“Um.. Thank you miss! You're super cool!” said the awestruck young girl before she ran off down the street to reach her home.  
Upon hearing footsteps approaching her, Lucy paused. She turned to find that the gang was heading off, apart from Zeek.  
“So.. uh.. I know this is really awkward.” stated Zeek, looking embarrassed.  
Lucy was interested to hear what Zeek had to say. Her transformation reverted as she turned towards him.  
“You used to be a total wimp. Now you're pretty cool.” said Zeek before he paused for a moment. “I'd like to say sorry for all those previous times we stole from you.”  
Zeek pulled out a bag of cash to offer to Lucy. Lucy declined the offer.  
“That's in the past now. If you really want to pay for the past times, buy some Team Wild merchandise or something.” responded Lucy.

Zeek nodded and turned to depart. With Zeek's departure, Lucy carried on down the street until she reached her home.


	14. Memory

A cold breeze stalking the streets. Winter time had come for the city.

The poster in the window of the cafe proved teasing. Hot chocolates. Would be the perfect drink for a winter evening, if only the cafe were open. Amy was wearing her usual hoodie, keeping her back turned to the wind's frosty assault. Elin was snuggled up with a warm scarf covering up half of her face, while layered up in clothing. A padded jacket and jeans made up Nina's choice of clothing for the evening.  
“How are you not cold?!” exclaimed Nina, looking at Lucy.  
Lucy was wearing a dress. No jacket on. Bare legs. She was not even shivering from the cold wind.  
“It's not that bad.” replied Lucy. “And besides, you are going to freeze the moment you transform out of your warm clothes.”  
“I bet she's just healing off the cold!” came a response from Elin.  
Amy paused to look at Elin. “You might have a point there.”

The conversation about the sharp cold was brought to a stop with the arrival of Annie. To the others' surprise, she was already transformed upon arrival.  
“Why are you transformed already?” questioned Nina.  
“To get used to the cold. We're going to be out in it for hours, so might as well get used to it now.” replied Annie.  
With a crimson glow, Amy transformed first. “Can't argue with that logic.”  
Lucy transformed next, unfazed by the cold of the night. She appeared to be warmer in her magical girl outfit than her dress. Nina followed suit, gasping the moment the cold air blasted her.  
Blowing a raspberry, Elin was last to transform.  
“Aaaaa! It's freezing!” yelled Elin.  
“I'm nice and warm now.” mocked Lucy.

  
Several minutes passed. The nightly announcement sounded out. An icy blue sheet raced across the city, the barrier visually freezing the city still. Tonight was to be a pattern of ice. The windows were a warmer shade of blue, but the whole barrier remained cold to look at. To make things worse, the wind was now bringing in snow.

“Tonight's going to be a cold one.” commented Annie.  
Elin was visibly freezing. Lucy decided to pat her on the head as a mischievous comforting act. Elin's thrashing about in frustration made a few of the team laugh.  
“You're not shaking any more.” commented Lucy.  
All Elin could respond with was a raspberry.

The night threw several flying monsters at them. The avian monsters proving themselves well suited to the cold night. The team played patient, letting the monsters approach them rather than figuring a way to strike them out of the air.  
“This weather is atrocious” commented Nina.  
“The wind's slowing down though.” noted Amy. The others visibly surprised, they hadn't noticed the difference.  
Annie looked to the sky. “How long until it stops though?”  
“Probably half an hour or so.” replied Amy.

  
Amy's prediction proved true. Half an hour of fighting in the snow and wind was over. Now, the night's weather had turned to a gentle snowfall.  
“Remember to watch your step here.” warned Lucy as the team headed up a street.  
Snow had blown and drifted all over the street, making it hard to see where the stairs were. Lucy remained at the front of the team, scouting out the stairs underneath the snow.  
“Left alley. There's a ladder to the rooftops.” commented Amy suddenly.  
The team turned towards Amy, who simply added “Might be easier to use the rooftops if we can't see the stairs.”  
Annie looked at the top of the buildings. The rooftops looked flat in blocks. A few of the rooftops would require a jump up to reach the next one, but nothing the team couldn't manage.  
“That seems wise. Might even be able to spot the next pack of monsters easier.” said Annie.

At the suggestion, the team diverted from their planned route, taking the ladder up to the rooftops. The streets beside them remained clear of monsters. As the girls approached the end of the row of houses, sounds of fighting could be heard ahead of them. Out of curiosity, the team rushed forwards and stopped on the end house, overlooking the park.

“Huh.” was Lucy's response to the scene.  
A single magical girl was fighting in the park. Not one that Lucy recognised.  
_Who?_ thought Elin and Amy simultaneously as they stopped to observe.

The girl had brown hair, a pale brown layered dress, gloves and boots. She sidestepped a monster's strike, while turning and back-stepping to build some distance.

“She's got to be a new girl.” commented Annie, not recognising the girl in the slightest.  
“She looks familiar for some reason” added Nina, trying to think where she might have seen the girl.  
“Should we go help?” asked Elin, who was ready to jump down.

With a green glow, the girl wrapped the monster she was fighting in vegetation that fully restrained the monster. With a second movement, she put her staff forward and a barrage of rocks launched forward out of the ground and pelting the monster for a few seconds before destroying it.

“She's injured.” noted Amy.  
“Maybe-” Annie went to say before stopping.

A green glow from a leaf emblem on the girl's staff filled the area, before a green aura raised from the ground. The girl's injuries disappearing as she breathed a sigh of relief, taking a pause before glancing over towards the members of Team Wild. After a couple of seconds, she departed, walking down a street directly south-east of the park.

“Huh. Didn't see that coming” commented a surprised Annie.  
“A healer in the field? That's rare.” added Amy.  
Elin was too starry-eyed at sight of a healer with combat powers to say anything else. Lucy made bunny ear gestures behind her, making Annie giggle. The sound of the giggling made Elin turn around, with Lucy acting natural, and wondering what was so funny.

Realisation hit Nina. _She's the girl from the library_. “Oh! I just realised that I saw that girl in the library once. She didn't have powers back then.”  
“But to be out there alone must be scary.” commented Elin.  
Annie, Amy and Nina looked at each other. “Yeah” all three replied.  
“I still remember my first night.” Annie said while sitting down on the edge of the rooftop “I had no idea what I was doing. I'd literally just received my powers.”  
Elin, Nina and Amy all looked surprised.  
“Because that's when monsters breached into your bedroom, right?” asked Lucy, even though she knew the answer already.  
“Correct. Adrenaline just kicked in, and I just tried to fight the monsters off.” replied Annie before laughing. “I totally freaked out a few minutes later when I realised what I'd done.”  
“And I thought that week before I found you was bad.. Jeeze.” was Nina's comment. “I'm glad I didn't have to go solo too long.”  
Elin blew a raspberry. “You could have just asked those team finding people for help.”  
Nina looked embarrassed as the thought had never crossed her mind.

Annie stood up, turning around with a smile. “A girl with healing powers. She's sure to find a team. Maybe she'll have friends get powers, or someone will ask her to join their team.”  
Amy nodded quietly in agreement.  
“She clearly saw us. I wonder why she went off alone?” questioned Lucy.  
The girls stood in silence, pondering the question before continuing along their patrol route.

  
The snow of the night never stopped falling. The team carried on, fighting various monsters. A couple of puppet-themed monsters were stumbling around in the snow.  
“Well, this brings back memories.” commented Annie with a hint of nostalgic excitement.  
Annie quickly jumped against a wall, using it to bounce and land an aerial strike against the puppets. The others looked on, wondering what Annie was thinking.  
“I remember my first actual night. A couple of these chumps, stumbling around in a load of sand that had blown into the street from a construction site.” reminisced Annie.  
Annie took a moment to land a finishing blow on one of the monsters which had survived the initial strike.  
“I was scared and alone back then.. but it was reassuring to see monsters had weaknesses.” she added.  
Amy nodded. “Every monster has a weakness.”  
“And Elin's is homework” remarked Nina, prompting a pout from Elin.

Realisation hit Lucy. _Some day, I'll be the one alone._  
“I can't help but wonder if that girl's ok.” pondered Lucy.  
“I'll ask around tomorrow, see if I can find out about her.” replied Annie.  
Lucy turned towards Annie and smiled.


	15. Unity

“That's interesting. Not many healers go out a night. Are you sure that's what you saw?”  
“Everyone else saw her too!” replied Elin.

Elin was at the table, eating breakfast alongside her big sister. Her other sister had already left for school earlier and her parents had left for work.  
“What sort of powers did this healer fight with?” questioned the big sister.  
“She wrapped the monster up in some sort of plant then hit it with a bunch of rocks!” blurted out Elin excitedly, spitting cereal across the table in the process.  
“How many times do I have to tell you, don't speak with your mouth full!” scolded the big sister.  
Elin's face made the slightest move towards a pout, interrupted quickly by her sister “And don't give me that pout, missy.”

The table turned quiet from the scolding, the only sounds being the munching of breakfast cereal.  
“Still, that's a rather unusual power for a healer to have.” commented the big sister.  
“Do you think she'll be super famous because of that?” questioned Elin.  
“Not every magical girl has to be famous.” came back the reply.  
“Aww. That's no fun.” disappointedly commented Elin. “Maybe you're jealous you never got powers. Magical Girl, Marta the Magnificent.” Elin put extra emphasis on the fictional magical girl title to rub it in.  
Marta took a magazine from the table and bopped her younger sister on the head with it. “You know that's not true.”

*****

Future's Promise.

Annie had arrived early, causing a few of her classmates to rub their eyes in disbelief and that they weren't dreaming. Her morning consisted of asking around various teams that patrolled various streets around where she suspected this mystery healer was patrolling. Not one of them reported seeing a girl matching the description. _Was this girl too new? Were we the first to see her? Was it her first night?_ Rather than find the answer she wanted, Annie was left with more questions than she started out with.

In passing, Amy noticed Annie but carried on past her without greeting her. Upon reaching her locker, she collected the books she needed for the day and placed them tidily into her satchel bag. Upon placing the lock back on the locker door, she noted a conversation a bit further down the hall. She walked in the direction of the conversation slowly, passing it, taking a voluntary detour through the school halls in the process. _Interesting._

Disappointed, Annie headed off towards her first class for the day. _Still no closer._  
When she arrived, one of her classmates was waiting for her. “I hear you're looking for someone.”  
“Some healer girl I encountered with my team last night.” replied Annie.  
“I think I know who.” came the response.

  
A few hours passed, with lunch swinging by.  
Lucy, Nina and Elin arrived at their lunch table first. Amy and Annie both missing from the group, and absent from the lunch line. Their absence not being missed by Elin in the slightest.  
“You think the others are on a date?” questioned the small gremlin.  
“I'm not even sure those two would be interested in each other?” replied Nina with a questioning tone.  
Lucy just laughed at that possibility, shaking her head to respond.

A few minutes passed before Annie arrived at the table.  
“Where's Amy?” she questioned.  
“No idea.” replied Lucy before Nina added “And this gremlin thought you two were on a quick date.”  
Elin just grinned as Nina pointed at her.  
“Either way, I've been asking around about that girl from last night.” said Annie.  
“Any luck?” asked Nina.  
“Not a lot. We might be the first to have seen her.” replied Annie, disappointedly. “But a couple of girls reported a new starter girl of a similar description.”  
Amy arrived at the table, sitting down quietly.  
“So we did find a new girl then?” commented Lucy.  
“It seems so” responded Annie.  
Amy took pause from eating. “Grace. Lives down at Magnolia Street.”  
The others stopped eating, stunned.  
Amy smiled. “Wouldn't have overheard it if you hadn't been asking around, Annie. People notice when someone's asking around for someone.”  
Nina turned to Annie. “This reminds me of the day you asked around after Amy.”

Lucy looked at the others. “That reminds me. I always wondered how the day you met Elin went down. I've heard the tales of the others, just not that one.”  
Annie paused. “That was..”  
“One strange day.” finished Nina.

*****

Three and a half-years prior. Twilight Stars.

Annie and Nina approached the reception desk.  
“We're here because of an invite.” stated Annie, handing over the letter inviting her and Nina to an introduction meeting.  
“If you'd like to come with me.” replied the receptionist, recognising the appointment instantly. She guided the pair to an office they both recognised. She knocked on the door, peered in, before turning to the girls. “You may enter.”

Upon entering the office, they found Jacob Ignave at his desk with a girl with light orange hair ending in white tips sitting nervously at the desk.  
Annie and Nina took seats at the desk.  
“Hello again.” greeted Jacob, a slight hint of disdain in his tone.  
“I'm glad you accepted the invitation. I recently had the pleasure of registering this young lass here, and noticed that she is thematic with the pair of you.”  
Jacob placed a piece of paper on the table. Notes about all three girls' costumes and magical girl symbols were comparing the three, showing the similarities between them all.  
“This here is Elin. She asked if I could arrange a meeting to introduce the three of you together.”  
Elin turned to the others, waving nervously.  
Annie waved back. “I'm Annie.”  
“And I'm Nina.”  
“May I ask what kind of animal your powers are?” asked Annie softly.  
Elin's eyes lit up. She relished the chance to scare Jacob once again, transforming on the spot.  
“I'm a fox!” she said excitedly, giggling as the Jacob nearly fell off his chair.  
Nina looked at Jacob, then turned to Elin. “Did you do that on purpose?”  
Elin smiled nervously, unsure of how to respond. Annie hugged the poor girl. “It's ok. We don't bite. Well. Maybe we bite monsters, but we won't bite you.”  
Elin felt comforted by the gesture.

The three girls exchanged addresses and places they meet up at before leaving the office. Outside the office, a red-haired lady with pale skin stood watch with interest.

*****

“So Elin wasn't always like this?” questioned Lucy.  
“We were surprised she didn't become Wild Mouse when we first met her.” replied Nina.  
Elin looked embarrassed. Amy was listening with interest.  
“She was pretty nervous for the first three weeks. After that, we found out what she's really like.” added Annie.  
“I didn't know either of you two at first!” commented Elin, blowing a raspberry.  
“I can imagine. You were often shaking.” responded Annie.  
Nina turned to Lucy. “Took a whole lot of hugs to comfort her. Annie did the hugging though.”  
“They were the best hugs.” Elin commented quietly, hoping nobody would hear.  
Having overheard the comment, Amy mockingly hugged Elin, much to the latter's surprise.


	16. Glitz

“New year, new footage.” The camera kid's description of the night was simple.

Six figures had gathered for the night outside the local cafe. Tonight, the team had a cameraman alongside them at Jessica's request. Fans of the Wilds had their voices heard, and they were to be rewarded with new footage.  
“Who's this camera kid?” teased Elin, realising the cameraman was not the same one as the team had last used.  
“No idea. Nobody we've had before.” replied an already transformed Amy. 

_Camera kid?_ The cameraman wasn't too amused at being called a kid. Especially not by a girl both younger and significantly shorter than he was.   
“Who are you calling a kid?” he exclaimed in disbelief.  
“You, Camera Kid.” Elin mocked back.  
“The name's Louis.” came the cameraman's response.  
“Whatever, Camera Kid.”  
Lucy looked at Nina. “Does she always do this?”  
“Usually.” replied Nina.  
“The only time she hasn't was the time we had that camerawoman.” added Annie. 

Annie gave a brief outline of the night's plan to the team. After the brief, she turned towards Louis. “I suggest you keep alongside Wild Dragon. She forms the backline of our patrol group, and should be able to keep you safe.”  
Louis gave a thumbs up.  
“Also”, added Annie, “I would advise against asking her any questions or keeping the camera pointed at her for too long. She's not too fond of either.”  
Louis turned towards Amy, who gave an ice cold glare to back up Annie's point.  
“Noted.”

  
It wasn't too long a wait for the inner barrier's rise. The night's barrier first smothered the streets with a gloss black finish, before starting to twinkle as if the barrier was filled with glitter. Windows quickly polished up for a reflective silver finish.

“Keep an extra eye out tonight. I'd rather not have to explain why a cameraman got eaten by an eyeball.” said Annie.  
_That mental image is horrifying_ Lucy thought to herself. She shook her head to shake the image out, just as a rather large eyeball rolled around the corner.  
_Of all monsters that could show up first after I said that_ mused Annie as the eye bounced off the ground, sprouting a pair of black fog spewing raven wings. As the eye took to the sky, two razor claws popped out as it took a diving swoop towards the group.  
Lucy raised her arm and took a swing at the eye, interlocking her claw gauntlet with the monster's talons. The eye staggered at the added weight of Lucy before forced to crash into a wall as Lucy swung her body to divert the monster's path. Nina, being closest, took a pouncing strike to slash the monster.

Upon striking the monster, Nina was launched into the air.  
“Ugh, It's bouncy!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.  
Annie caught Nina, breaking her head-first fall. Elin took a swift strike at the monster, bouncing off just as Nina had done. With quick grace, Elin flipped herself in the air and landed on her feet.  
“Clear the area.” Amy calmly said, directing her dragon towards the monster and launching a fire breath attack. With Lucy pinning the monster against the wall, it was like watching a slow roast on an open fire. After several seconds, the monster melted into a soft goo and dissolved against the barrier.

Nina turned towards Annie. “You just had to say eyeballs.”  
“Sorry, I didn't know the first monster was going to be an eye monster.” replied Annie, apologetically.  
“Statistically speaking, there's a forty percent chance of any monster being an eye monster.” stated Amy. “They're the most common type by a large margin.”

The next half-hour went smoothly. No surprises, with just small packs of monsters to deal with.  
“Looks like an easy night” commented Elin.  
“Don't go and jinx it.” replied Nina, before being replied to with a raspberry.  
Lucy suddenly flinched. Annie noticed the reaction, with concern appearing on her face.  
“Something up?” asked Annie.  
“I just got a real bad feeling go through me.” replied Lucy.

A metallic hissing noise from behind confirmed it. A pack of Cobraxes rushed the team from behind. Turning around, Louis could see the imminent danger slithering in. Powerless against monsters, fear set in. The only magical girl close to him was Wild Dragon, a girl who commands around a familiar to attack. Twenty five meters. The pack of pink blades was coming in.

Twenty.

Fifteen.

Ten.

Five.

“Feral Defense!” yelled Lucy, having flung herself forwards from a sprint.

Three meters.

Lucy was now just behind Amy and Louis.

One meter. The spectral projection of a brown bear now covered the two.

**Clang.**

The first pack of snakes bounced, crashing into one another. Lucy rolled across the floor, pushing the Cobraxe swarm back.  
Elin rushed in, taking on the first of the stunned snake monsters. Nina and Annie quickly joined in as Lucy picked herself off of the ground. With the imminent threat gone, Amy helped Louis get some distance as he filmed the scene despite his heart pounding harder than a war drum.

The pack of monsters fell quickly. Despite being twenty-strong, the collateral damage they dealt to each other when they crashed off Lucy's projected bear spirit has weakened the pack significantly.

Lucy turned to Louis. “Are you alright?”  
The poor man's heart was still pounding. The adrenaline had worn off, and shock of the situation had set in. Unable to find words in his mouth, he put his thumb up.  
Elin looked at Louis. “You sure, Camera Kid?”  
Annie gave a glare at Elin before turning to Louis. “We can take a break here if you need it.”  
Louis nodded his head, appreciating the chance to relax after the encounter.

Sitting in the street, the team took a quick break. Amy turned towards Lucy. “Are you alright after that?”  
“I feel fine. They just bounced off Bear.” replied Lucy.  
Annie checked over Lucy's body. “She's telling the truth. There's not even a scratch on her.”  
“How do you do that?” questioned Nina.  
Lucy took a moment to think. “I don't know. You all hit harder than I can, but I guess my powers are more protective to compensate?”  
“That's why they keep giving us study surveys.” added Amy “There's so many unknowns when it comes to magic”

Ten minutes passed. With Louis recovered, the team continued on.  
“Team Wild is on the hunt!” exclaimed Annie.


End file.
